Don't Confuse Orange Bowl Loss as Choke Job by Oklahoma, Bob Stoops

Little-known fact: Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops actually has two monikers. There’s “Big Game Bob,” the coach responsible for a national championship win over Florida State in 2001 and a Sugar Bowl surprise over Alabama in '14. Then there’s the Bob Stoops who's blown it in big games, like the '05 Orange Bowl against USC and the '13 Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M.

At the risk of avoiding a scorching sports take, the Sooners’ 37-17 loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl, the College Football Playoff's first semifinal, was an example of neither for Stoops. Sometimes, you just get beat by a better team. Crazy, right?

And the Tigers were clearly the better team despite not having deep-threat receiver Deon Cain (suspension) and edge-rusher Shaq Lawson (knee injury) on Thursday. They also didn't get quarterback Deshaun Watson's best game. The sensational sophomore and Heisman Trophy finalist went 16-of-31 passing for 187 yards (though he had 145 yards on the ground).

So how is this not a choke job by Stoops? Clemson wasn’t even 100 percent and won by 20 points.

The Tigers have the benefit of being the better, deeper team. That almost always prevails in big-game situations. Forget the Vegas spreads and the “disrespect” storylines. When Clemson isn’t playing its best, it’s still an excellent team. When it’s rolling, there may not be anyone who can stop the train of destruction that is the Tigers. Oklahoma certainly couldn’t.

But this is not like previous bowl blowouts for Stoops, when the game was over by the first quarter. Oklahoma, in fact, had a one-point lead at the half and momentum thanks to a Zack Sanchez interception. Only in the final 30 minutes did Clemson take over.

Understand, too, that Oklahoma’s Orange Bowl trip was actually a year in the making. It began in the offseason, when the 17-year head coach made major staff changes. He released co-offensive coordinators Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell, a difficult personal decision for Stoops, and brought in Lincoln Riley from East Carolina. He started a new quarterback: walk-on and Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield.

Stoops also shuffled responsibilities among the defensive staff, which included shifting his brother, defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, from the secondary to outside linebackers. 

It goes without saying that every single one of those moves paid dividends. Mayfield was prolific, accounting for 42 regular-season touchdowns, and just missed the Heisman finalist ceremony. Oklahoma finished with the No. 2 scoring offense in all of major college football. The Sooners defense was also one of the best in the country, according to the advanced metrics from Football Outsiders.

When you've been at the same place for nearly two decades, reinventing yourself is no easy task. Stoops did so successfully. The Orange Bowl loss doesn't change that.

Now, on to the Orange Bowl itself. It’s not like Stoops made a boneheaded decision in the final minutes of the game or watched his team get manhandled from start to finish. Put simply, Oklahoma got outplayed up front. The losses of defensive lineman Charles Tapper and linebacker Jordan Evans to injury only compounded that. 

	Rushing Yards per Attempt	Rushing Touchdowns
Wins	5.46	30
Losses	1.91	2

The key to beating the Sooners, as we now know by way of Clemson and Texas, is pressuring Mayfield, stopping the run and then running the ball down their throats on offense. Both the Longhorns and Tigers did that successfully.

Losing to Texas—5-7 Texas—was choking. This is losing to the No. 1 team in the nation. 

The Tigers were the only undefeated team in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2015. It doesn’t matter how talented or deep you are, or how difficult or easy your schedule is. Going undefeated is hard. In a year of no dominant teams, Clemson is arguably the most complete; certainly, head coach Dabo Swinney’s group will have the chance to prove as much Jan. 11 in the national championship game.

What makes Clemson so good is, surprisingly, its defensive depth. That was the major unknown coming into the season since the entire starting defensive line, full of NFL-caliber talent, was being replaced. (That defense, by the way, is led by coordinator Brent Venables, a former Stoops assistant.)

With Lawson out, fellow defensive end Kevin Dodd rose to the occasion, as did linebacker B.J. Goodson. The Tigers held Oklahoma’s lethal running game, which was averaging more than six yards per carry since the midseason loss to Texas, to 67 yards, including sacks. Samaje Perine was Oklahoma’s best back, but he averaged just 3.9 yards per carry while suffering an ankle injury. Additionally, Clemson was harassing Oklahoma’s offense all night in the backfield.

That is, as football folks like to say, “hero ball” by the Clemson defensive front: a bunch of guys who may not be household names dominating at the point of attack.

Sure, a 20-point loss for Stoops is another crusher in his quest for a second national championship. Some critics will undoubtedly look for reasons to explain how and why Stoops doesn’t “have it” anymore, that it’s once again time to move on.

If anything, though, Stoops proved this season why the “choke” narrative is nonsense. He was two wins away from achieving that goal of another national title. The team that derailed him may very well go on to win it all, too.

If the reinvention of 2015 was any indication, Stoops might be back in the semifinals again before too long.

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com unless noted otherwise.